Twin Bridges Motor Hotel

The Twin Bridges Motor Hotel, later known as the Twin Bridges Marriott was the first lodging facility operated by what would become Marriott International.^[1] It opened on about January 18, 1957,^[1] shortly before the second inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and was demolished in 1990.^[2]

Operation as a motor hotel

The motel was located in

At its opening, the motel comprised 365 rooms, each with two double beds and a black and white television set.^[1] Originally designed as a classic motel with six two-story buildings with exterior entrances, within a few years a 100-room addition of a 5-story tower was added with space for restaurants, meeting rooms, and a rooftop lounge. A new lobby was added, along with a swimming pool that could be converted to an ice rink in the winter. Original rates were $8 per night plus $1 for each person, with a maximum charge of $12. Check-in was outside so the clerk could see how many were in the guests' car.^[1] Clerks would then escort the guests to their room by bicycle.^[1]

Because the Marriott Hotel chain did not yet exist, the hotel was operated as a Quality Courts motel (the precursor to Choice Hotels) for the first few years. Quality Courts was based in Washington, D.C., as well. With the construction of the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel just a few miles up the road in 1959, the moniker Marriott Motor Hotels was applied to both hotels.

Its proximity to

When the 14th Street Bridge, later renamed the Rochambeau and then the Arland D. Williams Bridge, was built in 1950 it left the restaurant surrounded by highways which necessitated the construction of special exits and sidewalks with underpasses to reach it.

In 1968, the Virginia State Highway Department purchased the Restaurant from Marriott for $1.3 million in order to widen the

• List of motels

References